Aylsham Town Hall

Aylsham Town Hall
Aylsham Town Hall
Location	Market Place, Aylsham
Coordinates	52°47′43″N1°15′05″E / 52.7954°N 1.2515°E / 52.7954; 1.2515 Coordinates: 52°47′43″N1°15′05″E / 52.7954°N 1.2515°E / 52.7954; 1.2515
Built	1857
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Town Hall, Market Place
Designated	1 June 1984
Reference no.	1306405
Shown in Norfolk

Aylsham Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Aylsham, Norfolk, England. The structure, which accommodates the offices and meeting place of Aylsham Town Council, is a grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

In the mid-19th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company to raise funds for the erection of a corn exchange. ^[2] The site they selected was on the north side of the Market Place and the foundation stone for the building was laid by the 8th Marquess of Lothian on 6 October 1856. ^[3] It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in red brick at a cost of £2,100 and was completed in 1857. ^{[4] [5]}

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto the Market Place; it involved two distinct sections: a main section of five bays and a right-hand section of four bays which was set back from the main section. The main section contained a central bay, which was slightly projected forward and featured a doorway, accessed by a short flight of steps, which was flanked by Ionic order pilasters supporting a segmental pediment; the central bay was surmounted by a modillioned pediment with a clock in the tympanum. The outer bays in the main section were fenestrated by sash windows with keystones. The right-hand section was also fenestrated by sash windows although the right-hand bay, which was still further set back, was blind. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall which contained a queen post roof. ^[4]

The 6th Battalion of the Norfolk Rifle Volunteers, which was raised on 23 September 1859, ^[6] used the building as its drill hall ^[7] and petty session hearings were held there once a fortnight in the 19th century. ^[8] The building was extended to the west to create additional office space in 1892. ^{[4] [9]} Following a collapse in corn prices, the company which had developed the building got into financial difficulties: a local solicitor, William Forster, acquired the building and the company was wound up in 1893. ^[10]

The building was the venue for important public events and, in 1899, it hosted the declaration of the result for the 1899 North Norfolk parliamentary by-election which was won by the Liberal Party candidate, Sir William Gurdon. ^[11] After Forster's death in 1906, the building was acquired by the local parish council ^[12] and Sir Oswald Mosley held a gathering of the British Union of Fascists there in 1939. ^[13]

Following local government re-organisation in 1974, the town hall became the home of Aylsham Town Council. ^{[14] [15]} A refurbishment of some of the facilities in the town hall was completed in March 2018. ^[16] Items of interest in the town hall include a collection of material relating to the locally-born pioneer of anaesthesia, Joseph Clover. ^[17]

References

1. Historic England. "Town Hall, Market Place (1306405)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 26 February 2022.
2. White, William (1864). History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, and the City and County of the City of Norwich. W. White. p. 663.
3. Mackie, Charles. "Norfolk Annals 1851–1900". p. 55. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
4. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Wilson, Bill (2002). Norfolk 1 Norwich and North East (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 367. ISBN   978-0300096071.
5. "Public meeting on future of Aylsham Town Hall". Just Regional. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
6. Westlake, Ray (2010). Tracing the Rifle Volunteers: A Guide for Military and Family Historians. Pen and Sword. p. 188. ISBN   978-1848842113.
7. "Catalogue of Aylsham Town Archive" (PDF). Aylsham Town Council. p. 2. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
8. Aylsham. Kelly's Directory of Norfolk. 1875. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
9. "Aylsham Town Walk". Norfolk Historic Buildings Group. 24 June 2017. p. 11. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
10. "No. 26399". The London Gazette . 9 May 1893. p. 2695.
11. "1899 Norfolk Chronicle newspaper Selections". The Foxearth and District Local History Society. 16 March 1899. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
12. "Town Hall". Aylsham Heritage. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
13. Mitchell, Andrew Martin (1 September 1999). "Fascism in East Anglia: The British Union of Fascists in Norfolk. Suffolk and Essex, 1933-1940" (PDF). University of Sheffield. p. 159. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
14. "No. 48883". The London Gazette . 5 February 1982. p. 1662.
15. "Aylsham Town Guide 2021/22". Aylsham Town Council. p. 7. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
16. "Aylsham Town Hall". Halls Hire. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
17. "The Joseph Clover website" . Retrieved 26 February 2022.